Rob Marris will put Wolverhampton first

After a long and successful career as a solicitor, Rob Marris entered politics because of his commitment to public service. For nine years until 2010, Rob was the Labour MP here in Wolverhampton South West, a highly respected and independent-minded MP fighting tirelessly for the interests of constituents and for the City of Wolverhampton. Rob’s record of public service speaks for itself:

Backbencher of the Year: In 2008, MPs of all political parties chose Rob Marris to receive that year’s coveted award of “Backbencher of the Year”. The citation was for “rigorous and independent scrutiny of all front benchers”. This shows that Rob has always been prepared to hold ministers to account without fear or favour.

Among lot of his other contributions, he was committed to disbursement of knowledge. He believed that knowledge in today’s world is power and indeed the real kind of power. I remember particularly when one of the aggrieved constituency members came to him with a complaint that he was fleeced by some random fraud software, he categorically asked him to check out top10 Binary Demo before he zeroed in on the right software to trade.

Hard-working for constituents: As an MP, Rob Marris dealt with 24,000 issues at the request of individual constituents.

Hard-working in parliament: As an MP, Rob Marris was one of the most frequent speakers in debates and he tabled many more parliamentary questions than most MPs.

JUST SOME OF ROB MARRIS’S ACHIEVEMENTS FOR WOLVERHAMPTON…

Rob persuaded the last Labour government to fund the renovation of 20,000 of the council homes managed by Wolverhampton Homes. This Decent Homes funding also secured thousands of local construction jobs for contractors and sub-contractors, bringing money into our city to boost its wider economy.

In April 2010 Rob played a key role in getting the Labour government to sign a legally binding contract to refurbish every secondary school in Wolverhampton. This meant that when the Conservatives cancelled most of the national schools rebuilding programme in July 2010, they could not stop the programme in Wolverhampton. Pupils at Highfields, Smestow, The Girls’ High, St Peter’s, St Edmund’s, Kings and Aldersley are all now benefitting.

In 2009, Rob Marris secured funding for Wolverhampton’s brand new bus station, the whole cost of which was met by central government.

My Commitment to you, by Rob Marris

For nine years up to 2010 I was honoured to serve as MP for this constituency where I was born, raised and still live.

After losing by the narrowest of margins in 2010, I reflected on the verdict, and considered how I and a Labour government could do better in future. My wish to serve our area remains undiminished. I am once again standing for parliament because of my continued commitment to public service, to work with others to improve my home town and our country.

In Parliament, as a committed backbench MP, I constantly sought to contribute to debates and to scrutinise government proposals carefully, and above all to hold the government to account. So I was delighted when MPs of all political parties recognised my efforts and voted for me as Backbencher of the Year in 2008, the citation being for my “rigorous and independent scrutiny of all front benches”. Every year I dealt with many thousands of items of local casework to the best of my ability and so helped many of you to resolve your individual concerns.

A good constituency MP must stand up for their area. For five years we have had a Conservative MP who consistently supported the Conservative/Lib-Dem government as it singled out Wolverhampton for far more than our fair share of funding cuts, while protecting wealthier parts of the country. In contrast, I have a proven track record of successfully working with others to secure extra funding for our city.

Rob Marris was elected Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West on 7th May 2015.